Packaging and preserving meat.



L. MOORE.

PACKAGING AND PRESERVING MEAT.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 20, 1908.

Patented Apr. 12, 1910.

naw/"l on Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and.

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD MQOBE, 0i DAYTON DHIQ, ASSIGNIOR TO DICKSON L MOORE, OF D Y N, OHIO.

PACKAGING- AND PRESEBV'ING MEAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1910.

Application filed August 20, 19,68. Serial No. 469,488,.

To all-whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD Moons, a citizen of the United States,-res1d1ng at State of Ohio,-have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Packaging and Preserving Meat; and- I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formmg. a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in packaging, curing and preserving meat for human consumptlon, and is more especially, though not exclusively, applicable in the packaging, curing and preserving of pork, such as baconJ Probably no form of flesh food is more popular than bacon, but it is a matter of'common observation and knowledge with those who include pork in their dietary that in one of its most palatable forms, a particularly objectionable feature is found to exist when the meat has been preliminarily prepared in accordance with present practices. The first layer of lean, z. 6., that on the interior surface of the flitch has become not only dirty from exposure to smoke, air and impurities of various kinds, but ordinarily it is hardened and acted on by the. preservative agents and drying until it is as tough as the rind or skin, and as indigestible and diflicult to masticate. The more choice the flitch is in all its essential characteristics the more conspicuously its one ob'ection is shown. When sliced to prepare or cooking, each slice presents twoedges or borders which are inedible and should be removed. 'If not sliced before cooking, the removal of the soiled and inedible ortion of the interior surface is still more cult and is attended with even gfeater loss of the contiguous edible portion. any event, the percentage of waste is very large.

Resort is had to'various means to avoid or disguise the objectionable features, such as scalding or washing, but the most common practice in order toavoid .waste and flavor is to cut the slices so thin that the hard unclean edgeeis not apparent, but it is obvious that when the sliceshave all been cooked impurities that .had accumulated on the surface have also been cooked and usually unwittingly eaten, even .though unwholesome, indigestible, and if seen as a body extremely repulsive.

The objects of the present invention are; first, to secure absolute cleanliness when delivered ready for cooking; secondly, to save from waste the inner or lean face of the flitch, andpreserve to each slice the tender border of lean which belongs to it and which gives taste and character to the entire slice; and thirdly, to improve the flavor and quality of the flesh or lean side of the flitch by curing and packaging the flitch with the flesh or lean side protected by a natural envelop of fat formed by a separated part of the flitch itself.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the several steps conveniently followed in preparing a flitch of bacon in accordance with the present invention; Figure 1 illustrates a strip or side of meat, the shape and size of a flitch of bacon commonly exposed for sale in meat stores and groceries. Fig. 2 illustrates the same piece partly.prepared in accordance with the present inventlon. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate the next twosteps in the preparation of the piece of meat for the pickling and smoking processes. 'Fig. 5 illustrates the preferred form of final package ready for pickling and smoking.-

As an illustration of the preferred procedure in carrying the resent invent-ion into practice, the strip or side of meat shown in Fig. 1 is severed into twoequal parts A and B by a transverse cut, and the rind or. skin-is cut fromone of the pieces as shown in Fig. 2. In this figure the piece A has the flesh or lean side uppermost while the piece B has the fat or skln side upper most, and the skin C removed from the latter has more or less of the fat adherent thereto, although the cut is made as close to the; skin as possible. The pieces having been thus prepared areplaced upon each other, as shown-in Fig. 3, with the fat side of piece B against the lean side of piece A and the inner side of the previously removed piece of skin G against the lean side of piece B. The layers of lean are thus located between layers of fat, the soft faces of the fat and inside of the skin making intimate contact with the faces of the lean sides throughout.

Various means may be employed to pre serve the relation of the pieces during the pickling, smoking and subsequent handling prior to being sliced and cooked. Conven iently, the pieces may be bound together by light cord or twine which should be .applied in separately tied bands G, Fig. 4;,

smoking of the same may, be e ected in the.

usual manner, but in order to more effectually protect the meat it is preferably incased in a wrapper of thin fabric such as cheeseclothH, (Fig. 5), the edges of which are stitched down or otherwise secured.

The thin fabric in no wise interferes with the pickling and smoking, but serves to protect the meat itself from-impurities, thereby preserving the appearance and food value of even the end edges of the slice.

A package prepared'as described insures the preservation of the lean in a clean condition, the preservative qualities of'the fat are fully utilized, and no hard or inedible faces are formed either as a result of the action of the preservative agents or of subsequent dryin Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is: A

1. The herein described improvement in packaging and preserving skin covered meat wh1ch consists in assemblin separate relatively thin layers of meat, one layer with its covering of skin outward and its inner lean side in contact with the outer fat side of the adjacent layer from which the skin has been previously removed, covering the inner lean side of the last mentioned 1a er with the skin, securing the layers and s in in their relative positions to prevent the entry of impurities between them and subjecting the package to the action of preservative agents.

2. The herein described improvement in packaging and protecting skin covered meat which consists in assembling separate, relatively thin layers of meat with the inner lean side of one layer in contact with the outer fat side of the adjacent layer from which the skin has been previously removed, covering the inner lean side of the last mentioned layer with the skin whereby both faces are skin covered, and securin the layers and skin in their relative positions to prevent the entry of impurities between them.

3. The herein described improvement in packaging and preserving skin covered meat, which consists in assembling separate relatively thin layers of meat, one layer with its covering of skin outward and its inner lean side in contact with the outer.

fat side of the adjacent layer from which the skin has been previously removed, covering the inner lean side of thelast mentioned layer with the skin, enveloping thev package with a thin textile fabric, and finally subjecting the package tothe action of preservative agents, said envelop operating to prevent impurities in the preservative agents from coming into direct contact with the meat.

7 LEONARD MOORF.

Witnesses:

PATRICK B. SWEENEY, JOHN H. UPSHAW. 

